Players Will Be Saucing Pucks Over Fans From The Stands At This Year's NHL Skills Competition, So You Better Keep Your Head On A Swivel
Wyshynski - A new skills competition at the 2020 NHL All-Star Game will feature players shooting pucks from the stands, over the fans and at targets on the ice, sources tell ESPN.
Debuting at the skills competition event in St. Louis on Friday, Jan. 24, eight players from the All-Star Game rosters will stand in a section of Enterprise Center above the lower bowl of seats. From there, they will fire pucks down to circular targets positioned on the ice below.
The targets will all have different point values, based on the difficulty of the shot attempt. Pucks that hit the middle of the targets will also carry higher point values than the ones that hit the sides.
Here's a quick preview of the fan experience at this year's NHL All Star Skills Competition.
I know these guys are the best players in the world. I realize they can sauce harder than any Arrabiata sauce there ever was. But you still better keep your head on a swivel out there because someone is just one broken stick away from literally spittin' chiclets. You might want to just rock a full fishbowl to the skills competition if that's where your seats are set up that night.
I can't imagine imagine the nerves the players are going to have here. Like I said, I know all of these guys are fully capable of clearing the crowd in their sleep. But that doesn't make a difference once they're actually up there and actually have some actual fans sitting below them who they can actually drill. And while you're just making sure that you don't find yourself on the wrong end of a lawsuit, you also have a bunch of targets on the ice you're trying to hit. You start worrying too much about the crowd and all of a sudden you look like a jackass up there who couldn't even hit the side of a barn. This might be one that the boys legitimately practice for.
If they (or anybody) need a little work on their sauce game, perhaps they should give the Saucer King a go.
2 nets, 2 launch pads and 8 pucks for only $180? Fuck. That thing practically pays for itself after the first use. You'd be an idiot not to take that deal.
But yeah, I love the idea here by the NHL. Not only does it add a sexy amount of danger to the skills competition, but it's also just a sick competition in general. And as far as the "hockey meets Topgolf" description goes...well I think that's something that we need to give some serious thought to. Because I think that idea could be worth billions with a 'b'. Somebody needs to actually set one of those up and by somebody, I mean somebody who is willing to split that venture 50/50 with me. Any takers?